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Shamanic Princess
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Animation - 8.5 |
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Sound - 7.4 |
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Story - 6.8 |
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Character - 7.0 |
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Value - 7.1 |
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Enjoyment - 7.5 |
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Average - 7.3 |
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| Average |
8.0 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| This anime was fairly good.
The characters all get some development and you get to learn more about them and their relationships with one another as the show goes on.
The animation was very good, which it should be as this being an OVA and should of course have higher production values then a TV series.
The design of the characters and world are also very nice and have a 'CLAMP' feel to them. The character designer also did designs for a CLAMP work, 'Magic Knight Rayearth' which might be why they look similar.
The opening theme and both closing themes were fairly good and capture the show perfectfully. The opening representing the funnier and more light hearted moments, while the main closing theme shows a more dark and slower theme, which represents the many dark aspects of this tale.
The voice acting was fairly good, although some of the englishes voices were annoying at times, or hard to hear.
The story was pretty, good although nothing ground breaking. Tiara has to find the 'Throne of Yord' an artificat which was stolen from the Guardian World. She runs into her old lover who's protecting the throne for unknown reasons, and her rival Lena who is supposedly helping her old flame.
The story is nothing groundbreaking or original, but the characters interaactions and fight scenes make up for this. The last two episodes, 5 and 6 are actually prequals that show the events that let up to Tiara leaving on her quest.
Many people have a problem with the chrnological order of the series. I for one like it this way. After watching the first 4 episodes you can appreciate them more after watching 5 and 6 because it shows some nice development and background story. The animation is of course great throughtout each episode.
All in all if you like fantasy, action, mystery, some romance, and darker stories you should enjoy this. It was a very good production and it's also short so you don't have to invest alot of time.
I think that the R1 DVD release is out of print, but it should still be able to be found online. I picked up all six episodes on one DVD for only $8.98.
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petran79 |
(2007-11-30 05:26:42) 2006-09-29 12:51:54 |
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| Average |
5.0 |
| Animation |
0 |
| Sound |
0 |
| Story |
0 |
| Character |
0 |
| Value |
0 |
| Enjoyment |
5 |
| (Bandai US release ripped by various groups, Japanese cast only)
I'm glad that Shaman King was broadcast on TV. While I was searching for it in the database I accidentally found another anime titled ''Shamanic Princess''.
This is one of the animes that try to be a bit different than the countless mainstream titles and it succeeds in some moments. With the exception of episode 4 which was the most boring, the rest were from good to very good. Only in the first episode when I saw the intro and the design I freaked out and thought this would be a yuri anime, but fortunately Shamanic Princess is one of the few animes who shouldnt be judged by the cover.
It reminded me a lot of Tokyo Babylon and Vampire Miyu OVA in the animation and battle scenes. The animation and visuals were very atmospheric if a little excessive in the eyes size. No wonder since the art and direction staff (especially the editor Takeshi Seyama) worked in other visually appealing titles like Lain, Boogiepop, Witch Hunter Robin etc.
As for the story, since the OVA wasnt based on a manga they chose to make the last two episodes a pre-quel of the first 4 and this in a sense worked and made the anime more interesting, or it would fall into the trap of X-Movie and become very boring. But I didnt mind if I couldnt grasp the story sometimes, because the pace and direction were very original for an 1996 OVA. Also the battles and magic incantations are of high quality, if a little too short
The characters were good, with the ferret Japolo being without doubt one of the best talking pets in anime. The same voice actress lends her voice to Graham. It isnt a coincidence that she lend her voice to Nataku in X-movie that screened also in 1996. The rest of the characters were good though except Japolo and Graham they arent that memorable.
The music was also very atmospheric, with the ED themes in the last two episodes being very nicely orchestrated. I only skipped the terrible OP and the mediocre ED of the previous episodes.
Worth the watch, especially if you like CLAMP's visual style and atmosphere and a dose of dark magic and symbols and some bloody scenes too. If you liked Vampire Miyu TV and OVA also then this is the perfect anime for you.
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
9.5 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| This is one of my favourite short OVAs and I think the only one I've watched more is Phantom Quest Corp.
There's something ethereal about Shamanic Princess. Something beautiful and yet underlyingly cold and unfeeling.
I think it works perfectly as a short OVA and can't see that any more length would have given it anymore than it already has.
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| Average |
5.7 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
4 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
5 |
| Well, I watched it....kinda made myself watch it actually....and I can't really say that I was moved much by any of it, except for the last two "prequel" eps. I haven't researched it, but to me it looks like eps 1-4 were completed and released much earlier than eps 5-6......the last two eps have cleaner, more modern animation that doesn't fit with the earlier style of 1-4. That being said, I didn't check the release dates for this, so I could be totally off. ^^
Anyway......high fantasy type story that I just didn't really care much about. Maybe a bit *too* high fantasy....much of the time I could not follow the story. Beautiful animation though, for eps 5-6. Sound and music was not memorable.....characters didn't really have much development at all. I guess I was supposed to care about Sara and her imprisonment, and her brother trying to rescue her, but the anime just didn't tell me enough about Sara or her brother to give me a real reason to care. And Tiara....well, she's a special someone from the Guardian World who has some emotional struggles and such......that's about all I can tell about her.
It's not awful.....they put effort into this anime. But still, I wouldn't recommend it.
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Freddy C |
(2005-12-24 17:02:03) 2005-12-24 16:56:24 |
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| Average |
5.7 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
4 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
5 |
| Told in a non linear format, which involved simply placing the first 2 episodes last, surprisingly it worked a treat.
This clear but simple technique made this anime more “clever” than it actually was, because if it’s told in a linear fashion, it would have been like a more gothic and shorter version of Sailor Moon. This clever rearrangement doesn’t make this a great anime though, it still did not possess the ability to keep audiences interested throughout its duration - I often found myself phasing out for a few seconds while watching Shamanic Princess.
I was very impressed though with the animation of this anime, being 1996, the quality was very good, designs of the characters matched the theme well. To an extent, many things reminded me of Record Of Lodoss OVA.
And like Record Of Lodoss OVA, this could have been a real cracker, but it wasn’t. Having seen Berserk, I know what this type of anime can deliver, but almost none do. This is a real shame. The downfall of Shamanic Princess is the over simplified story, you are wanting an engaging story, you need something to trigger your mind for you to sit up and pay attention, this never really comes in the anime. Nothing really distinguish this anime from the many fantasy/demon/myth animes out there. Sure the animation is good and quite unique, but not unique enough therefore in this case you need something else to make it so, there is no such thing in Shamanic Princess.
A short OVA would always struggle to create something terrific, but in 6 episodes, there should have been enough time to create the start of something terrific. I would give this a miss, if you have it in your possession, then why not give it a try, but it will just end up as yet another undefined anime on your shelf.
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| Average |
6.8 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Shamanic Princess combines elements of fantasy, drama, and romance into a brief six episode OVA. While short in length, the series manages to hold onto the important elements of the story without sacrificing its content--I felt that character development was sacrificed, however, but this is a common flaw in most short series. Overall, I enjoyed watching it and I'd recommend it to those who want a brief mystical tale.
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Rirath |
(2005-03-01 18:36:36) 2005-03-01 18:34:08 |
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| Average |
6.8 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| When the Throne of Yorudo is stolen by a man named Kagetsu, Tiara is sent from the Guardian World to retrieve it at any cost. Her job is not an easy one as her best friend Lena is aiding Kagetsu and her partner Japolo has only just been assigned. Tangled relations and vicious battles cross as the mystery unfolds.
In most ways, Shamanic Princess is your typical pretty good but rather forgettable 90's OVA. Filled with magical battles and characters of all types, fans of the genre will certainly get a kick out of it. The first four episodes are set in the middle of the story, while the last two episodes tell the beginning as a prequel of sorts. It's the last two episodes that shine the most, with the best characters, the best art, and an absolutely great storyline. Graham is easily the best member of the cast.
This isn't to say the first four episodes aren't good, they certainly are, but they're simply outclassed by the last two. Regardless, the show is quite watchable from beginning to end. The animation of the first four eps is quite well done, but the last two really pull out all the stops. The story is rather forgettable, but still quite enjoyable and again peaks in the end.
The best parts of the show are easily the battle scenes, since the entire OVA seems built around the chance to show these off. From Tiara's transformations to Lena's plant summoning, it really shows great effort with very good results. The best scene in the whole OVA however is easily in episode 6, at the Festival of Wind. It's worth watching the series for the last two episodes and for that scene alone.
Overall, if you watch this series don't expect all too much. Enjoy it for what it is, and you'll have a good time. I know I'm putting too much emphasis on the final eps, but compared to the first four they're on a whole other level. The final two episodes would easily rank higher than this overall score, but it's short length and "good but not great" first four episodes keep it a solid one time viewing at best.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
7.7 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Hmm... It's a short compress 6 oav. Although I would like to see more when they're kids and how they develop friendship, but I guess you have to be a full series then.
They did pretty ok for a oav. Short, but unstandable from the start to end. I'm really sad that they can't rescue their friend at the end, how pitiful. >_< My beautiful Sara!!! >_<
P.S. The series is backward. ep.1 is ep.3 in reality, 2=4, 3=5, 4=6, 5=2, and ep.6=3 I beg you to watch in this order or else you'll be very frustrate like me when you see at the end of ep. 3 and hoping for better ending but when you watch ep. 5 you'll nothing but a restart you should watch before it. FUCK THE PEOPLE who want to screw with audiuen.
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Lexus |
2004-10-07 02:10:45 |
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| Average |
7.2 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Me gusto en su mayoria.. me parecio poco desarrollada la historia pero tengo que entender que eran OVAS
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0 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
3.2 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
5 |
| Story |
1 |
| Character |
2 |
| Value |
1 |
| Enjoyment |
2 |
| When it came to the release of Shamanic Princess was very happy. I had read about the series, seen pictures, review, and AMV’s to the series and it looked GREAT. On top of that one of the members of CLAMP was in on the project, how could it be anything but good? The disappointment I suffered was terrible.
The positive
There’s no doubt the animation in this series is beautiful. The fight scenes are great, and the music was good. Some of the original concepts where good, though the series entirely failed to play on these.
The negative
I’ll start with the dub. I endured an episode of this before I had to switch to the Japanese language edition, because the voices where so God awful. From the main character sounding like a little girl, to her assistant sounding like he really belonged in a dodgey Vampire movie. Though I know you can’t hate a series due to its dub.
The main problems I had where the scripting, (Both English and Japanese) and the storyline itself. The series is fraught with what I have come to call Shamanic Princess –itous, where the main characters have an obsession with repeating their co-characters name at either the start or the end of every sentence.
“Sarah I am sorry�,
“I know Tiara�, and so on.
It also drove me mad when she had to yell out stupid words for thirty seconds every time she wants to fight! And the same God awful ones each time! Along with this the script was riddled with some of the worst dialogue I have ever read/heard. Weak attempts to describe, converse, or just speak. I so hoped this series’ writing would improve but it didn’t. Moving onto the story… it was terrible set out and played.
The story of the last two episodes were good, and if they had played the whole series like this I could have looked past its other problems but unfortunately they had the other four and they of course played the best last, when most people have lost all wish to watch the series. The actual story itself I felt was weak, they had constant nods to a history of the characters though this is all but ignored (Until the last two eps), the supposed God like good guy Throne of Yorudo turning evil and trying to kill everyone, and the guardian world which looks just like earth… even after Tiara commented in Ep.1
“So this is earth, strange place�
Personally I feel this series should never have been made. The whole thing was riddled with pitfalls and even diehard Anime, or fantasy fans would have problems with it. If you’re looking for a good fantasy Anime go with, “Scrapped Princess� or “Berserk�. Ignore this one.
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| Average |
5.0 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
5 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
4 |
| Value |
4 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| I found this anime to be pretty boring, until the last episode. Only character I even liked was Graham and he was in the last of Episodes. Only reason am I giving the enjoyment a 6 is because of Graham. I wonder why the last 2 episodes did not come before the other ones, they are like a prologue to the first 4.
I think the animation was sucky, I hated the eyes on the girl characters. There were some cool designs, but those eyes where just blah. Shading and outlining could of used improvement as well.
The characters other than Graham was just blah to me. There wasn't much to them.
Over all this is a poor anime.
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| Average |
7.5 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Shamanic Princess is, unfortunately, a series that plays to its weaknesses rather than its strengths. It is also a series that is back to front, starting where it ends.
And it is because we see the world that all of these characters come from _after_ we see them interacting in a plot that is developed all too slowly, in a fairly dull setting, over the space of 4 episodes that one feels a sense of disappointment. I found myself far more interested in what I saw in episodes 5 and 6 than what I saw in episodes 1 to 4.
The characters were a bit bland, personality-wise, despite the character designs being flashy. I really could't get into their lives until I saw where they were coming from. Oh how I wish we saw more of the world of these magic users, and how they interract with ours.... Lost opportunity.
The animation is pretty good. Crisp, clear and colourful. The magic trappings are also quite interesting, and I wish we'd seen more of it.
The music is okay, but a bit bland. I wouldn't be going out of my way to buy the soundtrack.
It was interesting, the way they used Tiara's hair as a metaphor for horns.... Symbolism of her magical, otherworldly nature. For an anime heroine, she was certainly devoid of most of the moe-trappings we get these days. That doesn't mean she didn't stand out, as her wardrobe clearly shows. ;)
I originally bought this series on laserdisc, before the days of dvd. It was one of the few, and the picture quality upon my first viewing was amazing, so it clouds my judgment about what this series looks like. These days the old laserdisk looks like a bit of a laugh, being such a huge, clunky thing. One day it might become a collectible....
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De Baer |
(2005-02-05 10:01:29) 2004-03-12 20:12:06 |
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| Average |
7.7 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Man könnte nach den ersten Minuten meinen es handele sich bei Shamanic Princess um einen reinrassigen Mahou-Shoujo Anime da man schnell Merkmale entdeckt die darauf hinweisen. Der erste Eindruck täuscht jedoch und verfliegt fast so schnell wie er gekommen ist und man stellt fest das sich Shamanic Princess von allen typischen Klischees solcher Animes deutlich abhebt und auf eigenen Füßen steht. Man bekommt mit diesem OVA animationstechnisch einiges geboten und die Charaktere stechen mit richtig coolen Abilitys hervor die sehr originell sind. Story sowie Charaktere scheinen zuerst oberflächlich und simpel gestrickt legen aber im Verlauf des Geschehens zu und gestalten den 6teiler bis zum Ende unterhaltsam. Da man mit der ersten Episode praktisch direkt in den Storyverlauf eintaucht ohne die Hintergründe der Handlung zu kennen wird man zuerst verwirrt und von vielen Fragen umringt sein, das erübrigt sich jedoch mit Episode 5 & 6 die den Hintergrund der Story schön aufrollen und zu einem zufriedenstellenden Ergebnis bringen. Shamanic Princess ist ein ziemlich gut gelungenes OVA das zu seiner Zeit frischen Wind ins Mahou-Shoujo Genre gebracht hat und auch heute noch sämtliche verwandte Animes mit Leichtigkeit in den Schatten stellt.
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beast |
(2004-02-16 17:33:45) 2004-02-16 17:32:25 |
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| Average |
7.3 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| hm.. another mediocre ova series.
animation was quite good for an ova.
the soundtrack is not bad. it isnt good either ^^;
they could have done much better with that story background.
that and the characters didnt touch me at all.
the relationships were really promising (master - partner, brother - sister, onesided triangle setting etc) but the characters themselves were lacking something.
in hindsight, i enjoyed the last two episodes far more than the first four.
my rating doesnt make it obvious but i wouldnt recommend to watch this anime even once:
there are many other _average_ anime that are better than this one.
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Villain |
(2004-09-26 16:12:35) 2003-12-18 11:07:04 |
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| Average |
6.5 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| A nice little magic/fantasy story with some beautiful, yet eventually one-sided characters. The gorgeous CLAMP-style of drawing pleases the eye, but this series lacks a coherent storyline and gives an impression that it was all made just for testing various animation ideas.
The surprisingly dark undertones make the story a little better than those used in the many childish "magical girl" shows, but not enough. If not for the pretty visuals, there's very little rewatch-value here.
To be watched once, though, a quite enjoyable series overall.
EDIT: I reduced the score for animation by one, as although Shamanic Princess is still a very good looking series, many of the more recent shows have clearly surpassed its level of quality.
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|
|
| Average |
8.8 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| First time I saw this one was on TV, and there were lots of cuts. So I had to buy the DVD, and definitely the story's much better uncut. I would really recommend having this watched more than once, but the story's not as hard to understand as one review puts it. In fact, even if you end it on episode 4 you'll get the story pretty well. Character development, again contrary to one review, is pretty much well made even if you just watch the first 4 episodes, though to get the most of it you need to see the entire OVA.
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Ari |
(2004-03-21 14:18:15) 2003-06-06 22:54:51 |
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| Average |
4.3 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
1 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
1 |
| Enjoyment |
1 |
| This is one of the worst animes I have ever seen. The story is completely useless. The series starts off without explaining anything and gives the viewer a ton of unanswered questions. As the story proceeds, instead of answering those questions, it just introduces more and more confusion, and more and more questions which will also be left unanswered.
For some unfathomable reason, episodes 5 and 6 are the introduction to episodes 1-4. Since 5 and 6 are the main source of character development, the first time watching through episodes 1-4 will be unenjoyable because the characters are too unfamiliar. I can't figure out why they chose to release the series in that order. If you do watch this series, I suggest you watch episodes 5 and 6 before 1-4.
Anyway, as a person who tries to find the good in everything, I have to mention that the music is for the most part good, though not spectacular. The animation is often lacking and still frames are sometimes on screen for far too long. However, there are some very interesting character designs. Artistically, it is often impressive. Beyond that though, there is little to appreciate about Shamanic Princess.
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|
|
| Average |
7.5 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| I love girl heroes who kick butt. I didnt really like her sidekick weasel, and a lot of the characters seemed empty to me. People complain and state that those who watch this should start from the second half since it shows where it all started, but it didnt really bug me that much.
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|
|
| Average |
8.7 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| This show is very nice.
The animation and magic sequences are some of the best I have seen till now. Much like RoD the animation ranks very high in my book.
The story is nice, but not something special (because the show is to short for the story, so a lot of unawnserd questions).
Side note:
The sound in the magic scene's is very different and refreshing.
All in all this show is very nice.
Tip: First watch ep 5 and 6 and after that 1 to 4. 5 and 6 tell the history before ep1 to ep4 but do not spoil (ep4 is like the ending ep)
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|
|
| Average |
9.5 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| A good anime expecially for one thing: Japoro. It's the coolest magical animal in all the history of anime (With Iggy of Jojo bizzard Adventure & Jingoro, the great master of animal uglyness of Kimagure Orange Road). A ferret with attitude and personnality that kick ass!!!!! He deserve to be the hero of this cool series!!!!!! :) And for the rest. The story is interesting with a touch of philosofical mystisim, the caracter design is fabulous, as the high-level animation of this anime. Watch it and you'll see how Japoro rules!!!!!!
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